Hornblower and the "Hotspur"

By: C.S. Forester

Narrated by: Patrick Macnee

Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Napoleon is about to invade England, and it falls to young Horatio Hornblower to stop him. It's 1803, and the imperial leader of France is amassing an army of ships and planning his attack. Throughout several spectacular confrontations, Hornblower proves himself to be not only a courageous and worthy opponent, but also one of the most fascinating, complex heroes of our time. Hornblower and the "Hotspur" is the third in C.S. Forester's 11-volume series about one of the Royal Navy's most daring and resourceful officers.

©1962 by C.S. Forester, Renewed 1990 by Dorothy E. Forester (P)1999 New Star Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"With meticulous attention to nautical detail, which no committee of old sea dogs has been able to fault, C.S. Forester has shown himself to be a master of the genre." (The New York Times Book Review)

Bad Narrator

While the story is as good as you would expect, the narration is ponderous and VERY poorly done.

Excellent book, poor recording

Where as the book is a wonderful classic, saddly the recording has places that the recording is weak and the pitch changes. Audible should review the book and upgrade the recording.

It a worthwhile listen despite negative reviews.

I almost did not purchase this audio book after reading negative reviews of the performance. However it was the only only volume 4 available.
It's not bad. I don't love some of the voices but I didn't find it annoying either.
The story was really good and if you are following the series you don't want to skip it.

ABRIDGED! False advertising

This is not the complete book.
Just went through line by line and chunks are left out; to the detriment of the story. Disappointed that audible would advertise it as unabridged.

How did I miss out on these books for so long!

An amazing depth of knowledge regarding 18-19th century sailing practices and life in the Royal Navy. Always fantastic stories with great detail that enhances the telling rather than burdening the listener. An excellent performance all around!

Spare me anymore of Patrick Macnee

The story would have been more enjoyable without the melodramatic music and the awful narration by Macnee. Looking head in the series, I have another one from Macnee and I am dreading it. Based on the dialogue narration, it would be a wonder we ever advanced from that point in time. Someone please tell Macnee to figure out what he does well and stay away from everything else.

Hornblower and the

C.S. Forester's novel about life aboard a British Man of War is ledgendary. In the Hotspur, Hornblower's reputation as an aggresive, determined captain come into fine focus. He is an honorable man with a realistic sense of what can be attained if you work hard, dare greatly and are willing to pay the price. I wish the entire series was available. Patrick Macnee does a masterful job of bring this famous story to life. Highly recommended.
George Carpenter

Mandatory review your kidding

15 word minimum review before screen unfreezes very insulting to customer
Big brother Big Tech feel

A good story...insufferable narration

Downright painfully is the best way I can describe the narration of this book. Some of the worst character voices, or should I say VOICE because there was almost only obe voice used for 90% of the spoken parts.
I did not know until listening to the story that there were six R's in the word sir. Some of the most ridiculously drawn out speech mannerisms I could imagine.
Having said all that in the last 2 hours of the story it was a marked improvement. Throughout the entire story the narration (when the characters were not speaking) we're done quite well.
oOverall if you're following the series you should still listen to this book, but the first two so far out shine the quality of this one that I suppose it's not so bad that it is abridged.

Still fresh

I've read all the Hornblower books when I was young. I was afraid that listening now would have been a disappointment. It wasn't. The story was still gripping and the reader was engaging. I just wish the other books were also here.